Arnab Goswami, Republic TV can report on Sunanda case, but right to silence should be respected: Delhi HC

On Friday, the Delhi High Court refused to stop journalist Arnab Goswami and his Republic TV from airing news or debate on Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case but added that the Congress MP’s “right to silence” should be respected. The right to air the story cannot be taken but a balance needs to be maintained, said Justice Manmohan.

The Delhi High Court also asked Goswami and Republic TV to send an advance notice for his views to Shashi Tharoor before airing any news relating to the death of his wife. “Every individual has a right to silence. He cannot be forced or compelled to speak on the issue,” the judge said. The order of court came on three different applications filed by Congress politician Shashi Tharoor in his Rs 2 crore defamation case against Goswami and his channel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him during news airing relating to his wife’s mysterious death.

On the night of January 17, 2014, Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a mysterious way in a suite of a five-star hotel. On May 29, the court had said that the journalist and his channel can put stories about the facts related to the investigation of Pushkar’s death but could not call Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor “a criminal”.